Croquet is a rapidly growing sport wherein a multiplicity of players strike a ball with a mallet to systematically traverse a series of wickets and one or more stakes. The rules and game description are well known to those skilled in the art.
The croquet court is characterized by a number of passage wickets and stakes. The passage wickets comprise a pair of co-planar uprights which are substantially perpendicular to the playing surface. The co-planar uprights are joined at one end with a crossmember. The unjoined end of the passage wickets are pressed into the croquet court thereby forming a passage through which the ball must transit in accordance with the proper rules of play. The stakes are typically wooden and are likewise pressed into the croquet court such that they are perpendicular thereto. The stakes form an obstacle with several functions during the course of proper play.
It has recently become of interest to provide croquet wickets and croquet stakes which can be intermittently utilized for croquet. Portable practice wickets are known, as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,128,283, yet the rearward base ballast is an obstruction and precludes the use of the proper rules of play.
Portable wickets for use on a carpet are provided in U.S. Pat. No, 1,936,220 yet these lack the stability necessary for proper competitive croquet. Furthermore, it is often important to reconstruct a croquet court precisely to allow for record keeping and consistency in league play and the like. The portable wickets of the prior art are not suitable for accurate reconstruction of a particularly preferred arrangement of wickets and stakes. Furthermore, a ball passing in close proximity to the portable prior art wicket may strike the base support and be deflected in a manner which is inconsistent with proper croquet,
There has been a long felt need in the art for a croquet wicket system which closely resembles a proper outdoor court without obstructions or a need for rule modifications.